Fence Planning for Horses

Horse fence can be one of the most attractive features of a horse facility. But not all fence is suitable for horses. Fencing is a major capital investment that should be carefully planned before construction. A fence should keep horses on the property and keep away nuisances such as dogs and unwanted visitors. Fences aid facility management by allowing controlled grazing and segregating groups of horses according to sex age value or use.
Wellconstructed and maintained fences enhance the aesthetics and value of a stable facility which in turn complements marketing efforts. Poorly planned haphazard unsafe or unmaintained fences will detract from a facilitys value and reflect poor management. Good fences can be formal or informal in appearance yet all should be well built and carefully planned. Many experienced horse owners will relay stories about the savings for cheaper but unsafe horse fence barbed wire for example eventually being paid for in veterinary bills to treat injured horses.

Often more than one kind of fence is used at a facility. Different fences might be installed for grazing pastures exercise paddocks riding areas or for securing property lines. Land topography influences the look effectiveness and installation of fencing. Consider different horse groups. Stallions weanlings mares mares with foals and geldings all have different fencing requirements.
Pasture use may range from exercise paddocks corrals to grazing or hay production. Paddock layout should allow for ease of management including movement of horses removal of manure and care of the footing surface. Pasture design should allow field equipment such as mowers manure spreaders and baling equipment to enter and maneuver easily. This will reduce fence damage by machinery and the time needed to work in the field.
This bulletin presents information useful in planning fences for horse facilities. The emphasis is on sturdy safe horse fence typically used

in the eastern United States and Canada.
The Best Fence
Understand the purpose of a fence. The true test of a fences worth is not when horses are peacefully grazing but when an excited horse contacts the fence in an attempt to escape or because he never saw it during a playful romp. How will the fence and horse hold up under these conditions? A horses natural instinct to flee from perceived danger has an effect on fence design. Like other livestock horses will bolt suddenly but since they are larger and faster they hit the fence with more force. Also horses fight harder than other livestock to free themselves when trapped in a fence. There are many types of effective horse fencing but there is no best fence. Each fencing type has inherent tradeoffs in its features.
A perfect fence should be highly visible to horses. Horses are farsighted and look to the horizon as they scan their environment for danger. Therefore even when fencing is relatively close it needs to be substantial enough to be visible. A fence should be secure enough to contain a horse that runs into it without causing injury or fence damage. A perfect fence should have some give to it to minimize injury upon impact. It should be high enough to discourage jumping and solid enough to discourage testing its strength. It should have no openings that could trap a head or hoof. The perfect fence should not have sharp edges or projections that can injure a horse that is leaning scratching or falling into it. It should be inexpensive to install easy to maintain and last 20 years or more. And finally it should look appealing.
Unfortunately no type of fence fits all the criteria for the perfect fence. Often there is a place for more